High Court challenge over noise - guess who's back...

[SLC]

To be honest, if Farley Cottage is the closest, it's still well around a mile away, which means the Ropers must be further. I've never heard any of the rides driving past the theme park, apart from in the car park itself.

[Magrathea]

[quote=""SLC""]To be honest, if Farley Cottage is the closest, it's still well around a mile away, which means the Ropers must be further. I've never heard any of the rides driving past the theme park, apart from in the car park itself.[/quote]

As this exceedingly shoddy map shows, Farley Cottage is actually about 1/5th of a mile from the entrance plaza, and there are residences even closer than that!

[pluk]

I have stayed in the Though Ivy House (excellent, btw) which must be the closest residence to the towers, and the park was completely inaudible there either inside or outside. I really can't understand how the Ropers can justify their complaint from a legal point of view.

If some locals had strong complaints to make about the traffic situation I'd completely understand it, I'm amazed Towers haven't been forced to fund some major road improvements (although how they could be improved I'm not too sure) as we really do cause chaos for a few hours everyday. But noise? No.

[Wes]

[quote=""The Crab of Nemesis""]So I did a little research.

According to the Sentinel article, The Ropers live in 'Farley House'.

In Farley, there is a self-catering cottage (the owners rent it out I think) called Farley Cottage.

When you search for both on Google Maps, Google claims they are the same place: http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?saddr=far ... s&t=h&z=19

So lets have a look at Farley Cottages website to convince you to go... http://www.farleycottage.com/

Within 12 words we have the mention of it's proximity to Alton Towers as a positive.

Now of course, Google Maps has been wrong in the past (It's not the most accurate thing out there), but if this really is true that the Roper's rent their cottage out to people (which Im sure someone on here has said before) and use Alton Towers as a selling point, surely it makes even more of a mockery of what they are doing....

Either way, it's great to have a topic which we can all enjoy over the closed season isn't it![/quote]

This information is wrong I am afraid. Farley Cottage is owned and run by a nice family called the Browns, a family who have close connections to the park and have been helped get it to where it is today.


The Ropers house is the one that joins the field opposite the entrance.

[thefatone]

Interesting, I didn't realise where they lived before now.

Also more interesting is their fight for noise controls from where they live. From experience, you can't hear the park in Farley, however you can hear oblivion from the Chained Oak, and you can hear nemesis and rita from the actual village of Alton (sitting in a pub garden listening to them is lovely!)

So as much as I can understand noise complaints being made about the park.. from the Ropers location? Nahhh.

[Vik]

There's always been a lot of confusion as to the location of the Ropers house. Previous reports from some years ago suggested their house was between the main gates and the Chained Oak Guest House. If this was the case, then they would not be far from X Sector. Oblivions brake run is opposite the entrance to the Chained Oak. Often hidden behind the high trees, from the road passing by, if you look carefully to your right when passing the Chained Oak you should be able to see it. Much easier to spot in winter when there is little foliage in the way. This goes to show how close the park, and indeed some of its attractions come to some of the residences in the area.

A lot of assumptions are being made in relation to the whole case, which has been dragging on in public at least for 6 or 7 years now, based on the latest article in The Sentinel. A paper which loves a good Alton Towers bashing story. . The Ropers don't want the park to close down and rides relocated, they want some compensation for the years of noise issues that they claimed to of been plagued with. Seemingly concerning the 90's and early 2000's. Their current situation in terms of where they reside now, or indeed what there property in Farley may or may not be used for would probably not be of relevance in this latest saga. It would seem that the article is simply implying, in usual sensationalist what the worst case scenario would be should the Ropers win their claim.

Go back in time a bit to when the story surrounding the Ropers first broke. Quite a few people here had some sympathy for them at first, because when you read in to it, you realised they had been complaining, and they were not the only ones, about the noise levels coming from within the park. After all, they had been resident there for many years, no one could of expected the place to become a massive Theme Park attracting 2 million plus people a year, and all their complaints over the years had fell on deaf ears pretty much. There was a general understanding, that whilst their court action may seem massively over the top and massively over exagerated, that Alton Towers needed to be brought to book for years of dodging the issue.

Court action like this is long winded and very very expensive. The only winners really are the lawyers who pocket quite a bit of dosh in fees. Thus, it would be fair to assume that taking this route is probably the last resort.

I think though that many thought it would be thrown out, but alas, it wasn't. The Ropers won, and a noise abatement order was placed on the park limiting the noise that reaches the Ropers property to a maximum of 33dB, as well as limit of one fireworks night per year. A subsequent appeal was lodged by the then owners, Tussauds, which argued that limit was simply not possible nor was the restriction of one fireworks night per year. Appeal successful, the limit was raised to 40dB, and 3 Fireworks nights were permitted.

It was after this the Ropers then lost all credibility. After Tussauds were successful in getting the noise limit raised, the Ropers lodged a high court injunction to get that weekends Fireworks event stopped. The ramifications should such an injunction be successful were to awful to even comprehend. Almost 100,000 visitors over the weekend would of been left short changed, Guest Houses, who are booked up for the Fireworks events months in advance would be faced with massive losses as people cancelled, not to mention the cost to Alton Towers and the rest of the local economy. Thankfully this was thrown out and that weekends event past off, um, 'peacefully'.

It seems though every time we think everything has settled down, the whole thing rears its ugly head again. Every other year the story pops up and there's more court action threatened. It is my understanding the the Ropers are effectively a mouth piece for the very small minority, (most of whom moved in after the Theme Park became established) who wish for an idyllic life a peace and quite in the countryside. The vast majority of residents support the park. A few may have minor niggles, mainly concerning the volumes of traffic, and the types of vehicles that use the local road system, but are still supportive of the park due to the benefits it brings them. I wonder how many other villages still boast more than one pub, and the local high street shops, as well as a multitude of Guest Houses. If Alton Towers went, you can bet in a couple of years time, despite the areas popularity with walkers etc, all of these would be gone too, as would the bus service.

One thing that struck me in the latest article was the suggestion by the lawyers acting for the Ropers this time that should they lose this case they will be in financial difficulty. That begs the question: Did their lawyers advice not to go through with it?, or were they simply happy to pocket their money anyway? Being up against the might of a huge corporation, whilst not impossible to overcome, is quite a formidable opponent to be up against in court. They will have the best that money can buy to save their bacon. Regardless of the outcome, again, there will only be one winner in this scenario, and that is the lawyers on both sides.

I hope this is the end of the matter regardless of the outcome. The public battle has been raging since 2004. Time for the Ropers to hang up the hat and at least try to enjoy their lives if they can.

[Dormiens-Dave]

My sympathy for the Ropers has always been limited due to comments i have had from family who live in the area. However that isnt to say the court case hasnt had any justification in the past. Limiting the parks noise is not completely wrong as people do deserve some level of peace and quiet.

My biggest bug bear is that one of the biggest local opponents of Alton Towers in the village has only lived their 10 years or so. Long after the park became popular which to me just seems odd but thats another story. As well as the lack of regard Mr Ropers company has for residents near his factory. But hey those with money often see themselves different from others.

My concern with this case though is that the current noise abatement order is probably already as low as practically possible so any win could be a real blow. Though Towers should be nice and add magnetic breaks to oblivion, though thats a huge cost.

ALSO: im not comfortable with people describing the exact location of the Ropers house, i know its public information but some respect for privacy is deserved

[DiogoJ42]

I was going to say, Dave... Methinks that mentioning their location on a public forum may not be the best idea. We wouldn't want some crazed fanboy to do something stupid now would we? :sus:

[Moley]

Its a shame they've lived there so long because it would be poetic if they used so much of their money on these court cases that the house next to the park got repossessed.

[NickT04]

Making the ground shake. Hahaha do me favour, keep whinging Roper's. Can't see your money reserves outlasting Merlin's.

[DiogoJ42]

The only place the ground shakes in Alton is when you are standing above Oblivion's tunnel.

[James]

Or when you're standing inside Nemesis' pit...

[medji]

Or when your on the platform at rita's station...

[The Psychoaster]

[quote=""Oli""]This again?!
See, many enthusiasts would love that house, but two whiny old people just aren't happy.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... ident.html
Also, from here you can see them making complaints about how it made the ground and windows shake... But, every time I've been to fireworks I've never had the ground shake.

Me thinks they're in it for the money.[/quote]

How can one of their major complaints be the noise that the fireworks make? The fireworks occur 3 times per year, always around bonfire night when fireworks are permitted until later times and when organised displays happen in many other places around the country.
I'm pretty sure there have been restrictions on Category 4 fireworks ever since 2004 anyway (when that article was published), and even despite their loudness the maximum shell size generally fired in shows such as those at Alton is 6" which isn't quiet but in comparison with other countries is really tiny.

I can understand their complaints about noise but it's them against the 2.7 million that visit per year and the largest amusement park operator in Europe. No chance.

[James]

I must say, I was always baffled by them complaining about the fireworks. 3 days really isn't that much, it's not 3 days in fact, just 1 hour per year - something you can surly tolerate? It's not like Alton Towers do something a-la Portaventura style and have fireworks going off every day of the week throughout the summer...

[BigAl]

They should count themselves lucky with the fireworks displays. How many other people live so close to such wonderful displays? They should be thankful that Alton Towers is there or that whole area would be completely dead. No shops, No pubs. No B&B's. They should take a look at what's happening across the rest of the UK. High streets are becoming ghost towns. Do they really want the same to happen to Alton?

[ponder]

[quote=""BigAl""]They should be thankful that Alton Towers is there or that whole area would be completely dead. No shops, No pubs. No B&B's. They should take a look at what's happening across the rest of the UK. High streets are becoming ghost towns. Do they really want the same to happen to Alton?[/quote]


To be honest, they probably do. I see it a lot here locally too in the small town I live in. The more elderly community, shall we say, will oppose every attempt to develop and rejuvenate the town centre, claiming supermarkets will destroy local trade and such like. However, there is no local trade, the High Street has been dying a slow, painful death over the past 10 years, and is largely a mish-mash of take-aways, charity shops, hairdressers and empty buildings.

This seems to be happening up and down the country. It seems there is a fear amongst the older generations that change is always for the worst, and this largely has a negative effect on smaller towns and villages being able to develop, creating jobs and opportunities in the process.

Apologies for drifting on a tangent, but this whole 'fear of change' thing seems relevant to the quote above, and probably to the topic as a whole.

[Khalichanan]

Perhaps Merlin are paying the Ropers to kick up a fuss so that all the enthusiasts rally behind Merlin and AT again and support them


Me...cynical? Never!

[DiogoJ42]

Agreed, Ponder. My town is full of miserable old NIMBYs who block every single planning aplication. You should see the fuss they are making about HS2, even though it will run alongside existing rails in this area. They once blocked warner Bros from building a studio and theme park down the road. They even lodged an official complaint to the council that "too many foreign takaways [err, thats two chinese and two indians in the whole town] are distroying our native culture".

I know I'm one of the 'older' members of TTF, but seriously, if I ever get like that.... kill me.

[bilvy man]

im sorry, im just confused, how come its only then and i'd love to live somewhere that close to the towers, (hang on ill see if they'll do a house swap) but if there is so much noise why dont others complain.